


thirty years and running (when he found his way back home)

by Hoothootmotherf_ckers



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Some Fluff, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 16:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16520165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoothootmotherf_ckers/pseuds/Hoothootmotherf_ckers
Summary: Magnus has no family on Faerun except for the ones he found.The same is not true for Julia.And sometimes, you've got to hang on to all the scraps of family you have left.---(what if June and Jack were related to Magnus?)





	thirty years and running (when he found his way back home)

Magnus Waxman Burnsides never had much of a family. Oh, they existed, of course. But back on his home plane they’d been distant, a mere hint of uncles and cousins and various spawn. He’d never really known them, and he’d cut ties with many once he joined the IPRE. And then, well - they were gone, or he was, it’s semantics, really. But for obvious reasons, he was alone on Faerun. He had a family of choice, but not one of blood. 

The same could not be said of Steven Waxman and Julia Waxman Burnsides. Julia was an only child, yes, and her mother had been gone long ago. But Steven had a younger brother.

His name was Jack. 

—

Magnus Burnsides is wandering the desert, and he has made a terrible mistake. His plan had been well intended - a desert is a good place to hide something, nestled in swirling sands and roots of cacti, slipping from fact into folklore and legend. But it’s easy to lose more than a glorified cup in the desert - it’s easy to lose yourself. Magnus’s map is worn and sweat-stained, blurring contours and obscuring names. Is this the ridge he should be following? Is it instead the one two miles east? He doesn’t know, and he’s not sure he could even find east with the sun so high in the washed-out sky. 

So he trudges on, red robe hooded over his head for the little protection it gives. It’s hot, but he can’t afford to burn, to let the reflection off the ground blind him. He rationed it, but his water is long gone, his head now clouded by dehydration. But something keeps urging him on, pushing him forward. He can’t stop here, can’t leave the Chalice just anywhere, lying in the sand to be tarnished and dulled. No, it has to be special, it has to be _right._

And he’s on the ground, now. He’s not sure how he got there. His side aches - did he fall? His robe is twisted around him, the Chalice tumbled to the earth beside him. He reaches, desperate - he has to find it a home, a hiding place, a -

And someone else picks it up first.

Magnus squints, bleary eyed, at the person who stands before him. She smiles back. “Cup!” she proclaims proudly. 

Magnus stares in confusion. A small child, a toddler, really, stands proudly before him, holding the Chalice high in one hand. Her sunshine-yellow overalls are dusty and her dark curls are falling limp around her face, but pure joy shines out of her smile, complete with freckles and dimples. Magnus is at once confused and comforted - the question of _where did this child come from_ wars with the comfort _it’s found a home. I can stop now._

Magnus slumps down in the sand, only to find a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Whoa there, you’re not looking so good. C’mon, sit on up.” Gently, Magnus is pulled into a seated position from his ungainly collapse. The hand is attached to a man, one with the same dark tanned skin and curls as the little girl. His face, however, is frowning, worry tight around his eyes. “Hey, kiddo. I’m gonna give you some water now, okay? Drink it slow, you don’t wanna get sick.” And Magnus finds himself clasping a worn metal canteen.

He sips it slowly as the world pulls into focus around him. He’s actually not as lost as he’d thought - somehow, he’s stumbled his way onto a trail, battered down by footsteps and the occasional hoof print. It stretches off toward the horizon in one direction, and toward a red-rock canyon in the other.The man sees Magnus looking and nods.

“That’s the Woven Gulch. It’s where me and June are headed, and I think we’d better get you there too. There’s supposed to be a town, and you need a better medic than me and I’d assume a way home.”

“That-“ Magnus coughs a moment, his voice coming out in a rasp. “That would be great. I don’t think I’m that suited for a desert-wandering life,” he jokes.

The man cracks a smile. “Yeah, I’d say. It’s lucky we found you, or I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Magnus thinks he hears a slight whispering, sees a faint glare off the Chalice that June still holds. “Yeah,” he says. “Real lucky.”

 

An hour later finds the three stumbling into a ramshackle town nestled in the cliffs. Well, Magnus is stumbling, and the man is doing his best to support the young human’s weight. June has run ahead, yelling out greetings to the few locals who have wandered out of their homes. It seems that visitors aren’t a common occurrence here. Quickly, though, Magnus is ushered to a chair in the shade, where he sits as the man talks business with the Sheriff, and June convinces a young dark elf teen to give her a piggyback ride. Magnus smiles. He thinks they’re going to fit right in here.

But it’s time he got moving. He has his own home to get back to, his own gaggle of friends and family. And they need to know that the Chalice is in a safe spot, somewhere no one would think to look. So quietly, he asks around and purchases a mule and a better map. Three hours from his collapse in the desert finds him out on that same dirt trail, happy to have succeeded in his quest.

Two hours later, he realizes he never caught the man’s name, nor gave his own.

One year later, it doesn’t matter. 

—

Magnus Burnsides is twenty-one years old when he finds his way to Raven’s Roost. Ask him where he’d been before, and he’d have no good answer - he’d crack jokes about being a wanderer, a student on a gap year, just really very lost, and then he’d smoothly deflect attention to a new topic. But he stepped one foot into Raven’s Roost and an invisible tether found his heart. 

There was something familiar about the town - the rough wood walls, the gentle accents of the people he met, the bright summer sky above ochre cliffs. It was comforting in a way no place had been before. So it didn’t take much urging for him to settle down, to cease his wandering. 

And his new career path came quickly too. He looked around a few places in town, to check if anywhere needed an extra hand, if anyone was willing to take on an apprentice. The last place he checked was the joint carpentry shop and smithy. He’s whittled a bit in the past, he figures it something he might be good at, with some effort. So he steps into the Hammer and Tongs with a grin on his face and a list of rationalizations on his tongue. 

He’s hit with a strange deja vu as he meets the proprietor, Steven Waxman. The man is tall and broad, curly dark hair framing warm brown eyes. Instantly, Magnus’s carefully packaged selling points fade away. He doesn’t know why, but he trusts this man, and he wants Steven to trust him too.

So he speaks honestly. “Hello, hi. I’m Magnus. I’m new to town, and looking for a job. I don’t know a lot about carpentry - I’ve whittled, and made little things, but nothing formal. I actually don’t even know if you’re looking for an apprentice, I maybe should’ve started with that? Um, but I’m a hard worker and a quick learner, andI’d really appreciate it if you could teach me.”

Despite his anxiety, he stands tall. He’s not a carpenter, not yet. But everyone has to start somewhere and needs a hand here or there, and he has a feeling Steven Waxman knows that. 

The man in question stares him down for a moment, then his face splits in a brilliant grin. “You got a last name there, Magnus?”

“Er, Burnsides. Magnus Burnsides,” he says, hoping.

“I like the look of you, Magnus Burnsides, and I’m not one to ignore intuition. My old apprentice moved out not long ago, so I do have a space open. We’ll have to go over some things, see what you know, but for now, kiddo, consider yourself hired.” He holds out one large, weather beaten hand to shake and Magnus takes it, a little stunned. This was going better than he’d ever dreamed!

“Oh, there’s one other person you’ve gotta meet too.” He turns away, and shouts toward the smithy, “JULES! Come meet the new guy!” 

The door creaks open and a young woman walks through, pulling off her heavy leather gloves. She’s nearly as tall as her father, with muscles to match, but her face is soft and kind, freckles smudged with oil and soot. “Er, I don’t think you want to shake my hand right now,” she laughs, “but hi! Nice to meet you, I’m Julia.” Her long, dark hair is tied back in a cheery yellow bandana, but as she laughs one curl comes free. Tucking it back, she smears grime in a clear stripe across her cheekbone.

“Oh, uh, hi! I’m Magnus, Magnus Burnsides. You’ve got, uh…” He awkwardly mimes a stripe across his own cheek. 

Julia laughs again. “Comes with the job, really. That and the wood shavings. Nothing here is safe!”

She darts forward and swipes her finger over his cheekbone, leaving another grey streak. “There! Now we match!”

Magnus blushes bright red but cracks a smile. She smiles back. “I think we’re going to get along great. Good call, Dad!” she says, and she walks back into the smithy. 

Steven smiles at Magnus. “Well, she’s the one you really had to impress, so nice one. You got a place to stay in town?”

“Well, I’ve been staying in the inn until I can get a place…” Magnus explains.

“Oh, well that’s fine for now, but I do have a spare room here off the shop if you’re interested?” Steven says, gesturing. “Definitely a short commute.”

Magnus smiles, touching his hand to the smudge on his face. “I think I’d like that.”

 

Magnus settles into his life at the Hammer and Tongs. He picks up woodworking fast, and a life of sweeping up shavings and simple carving soon becomes the basics of building furniture. He thrives. He loves looking at a slab of wood and visualizing just what he can bring out of it, of making something for both art and function.

(He also enjoys the more simple things, like doors, because then he gets to work with the blacksmith on the hinges.)

A happy three years go by in Raven’s Roost. He’s fully part of the community now - he knows everyone in the town and is generally loved by all. Steven has all but adopted him, and he and Julia are slowly shifting from best of friends to maybe something more. But there’s another shift happening in the town. 

Taxes are creeping higher, outside of what’s possible for the townsfolk to pay. There are soldiers in the street, not protecting but instead harassing the locals. An iron fist is slowly inching shut around the town, all thanks to the formerly merely corrupt, now fully tyrannical Governor Kalen.

And Magnus and Julia won’t let that stand. 

Officially, Magnus is the leader of what becomes the Raven’s Roost Rebellion. He’s charismatic, eye catching, good at impassioned speeches urging his neighbors to join him, to rise up, to break free. 

But it’s Julia who writes his speeches. It’s Julia who explains the nuance of what Kalen’s doing. It’s Julia who, one late night in the carpentry shop, quietly voices the idea of fighting back. 

Magnus is happy to be a figurehead. He’s the type of person who will be seen as a threat, who will be taken seriously as a revolutionary leader. A quieter reason is he’s the only person in town without family. He has no one who can be leveraged against him. 

While Magnus takes the heat, Julia runs the show. She organizes the citizens of the town, holds quiet meetings in the dim glow of the smithy. She works with a craftswoman who owns a printing press to spread an underground newsletter. She weaves a massive web of connections and knowledge and defiance. And no one sees the cheery, smiling spider at the center of it all. 

Julia builds the structure that allows quiet insubordination to grow into a true rebellion, and it’s Magnus who springs the trap. When the soldiers harass an old woman in the street and shove her to the ground, Magnus steps in. He finally shows his hand, paints the target on his back, stands up for what is right. It’s not safe for him in town anymore, so he flees with a small band of rebels. They strike where they can - stealing supplies, waylaying tax collectors, slowly chipping away at the governor’s grip over the town. He distracts from Julia, who’s evacuating those who can’t fight, training those who can.

So when the day comes for guerrilla attacks to shift to outright war, they’re ready. The dawn of the battle finds Magnus and Julia, together, at the head of the civilians. This may be their final stand, or it may be their long-awaited victory. Either way, they want to spend it together.

The battle is chaotic and bloody. The militia are trained soldiers, but the town of Raven’s Roost holds their own. Training, organizing, fanning the flames of anger and righteousness all finally pay off. There are losses. There are wounds and deaths and tears. But the militia are driven out. Kalen falls, slinks away with his tail between his legs. They’ve won.

A few days after the battle finds Magnus back in the Waxman’s carpentry shop. He’s whittling away at something small when Julia walks in. She looks nervous, but pulls him into a hug.

“It’s weird that it’s over, now,” Magnus says quietly. “Congrats, we did it, now back to normal.”

Julia laughs, and reaches up to his face. Gently, she traces over a new scar - a straight line along one cheekbone, an echo of a meeting years ago. “It’ll be nice to have some normal, for once. And… it’ll be nice to have someone to share it with.”

She drops down to one knee. “You are my best friend, my partner in crime, the love of my life. The last year has been hard, and dangerous, and we never knew what was going to come next, if there would be a next. But now we did it, and we have the whole world ahead of us.”

She holds out her hand. Inside is a simple wedding band, a smoky grey of the forge’s best iron. She looks up at him, brown eyes shining with anxiety, hope, and love.

“Magnus Burnsides, will you marry me?”

Magnus doesn’t waste a second. He pulls Julia up into a spinning embrace. “Of course I will! Of course, I love you, Jules, this was never a question at all. Actually, uh…”

He lets go of his fiancee - _his fiancee!_ \- and reaches down for what he’d been working on moments ago. “You beat me to it, but I think you might want this?”

He holds up a smooth wooden ring, and Julia doubles over in laughter, curls flying wild. 

Julia and Magnus Waxman Burnsides are married a month later on the edge of the cliffs. The entire town attends, how could they not? Julia and Magnus were loved by all even before they became the saviors of Raven’s Roost. The sun shines gently onto Julia’s simple white gown as Steven, crying a bit, walks her down the aisle. It’s remembered as the most beautiful wedding any of the onlookers had attended - nothing could ever come near to the love so clearly shining from the eyes of the bride and groom. 

They’re happy, settling into their peaceful life. Magnus goes back to carpentry, is soon skilled enough to become a journeyman. So he packs up some pieces, kisses his wife a goodbye, and heads out of town to a craftsman’s showcase.

That is the last time he ever sees her. 

Kalen returns to Raven’s Roost. He bombs the Craftsman’s Corridor, where rumors say the rebellion began. He kills a total of seventy-six people. 

He kills Steven and Julia.

Magnus returns to Raven’s Roost four days after the attack. The dust has settled, the fires gone out, and the survivors have left. Magnus is horribly, painfully alone, the only true family he’d ever had ripped away from him. 

He holds a funeral of sorts, alone on the cliffs. He had no bodies to bury, no attendees to mourn with. So he stands at the edge of the town and screams into the sky, screams the sound of a heart shattering. It’s a sound that traveled miles, that would spark rumors of a ghost left behind in Raven’s Roost. And in a way, that’s true.

Magnus takes the burned, tattered yellow bandana he’d found in the wreckage with him when he leaves. 

—

Refuge hurts. That’s as plainly as Magnus can think it - this town, its worn wood buildings, the red stone cliffs, are a painful echo of Raven’s Roost. Magnus keeps jumping at shadows, keeps expecting to see a flash of freckles and a smile in the smithy. He holds tight onto the bandana for the whole time they’re in town. 

He dies, and lives, and eventually finds himself in a mineshaft beneath the earth. He’s not alone this time - there’s Merle and Taako, but also Isaak and Roswell. And June. 

June is encapsulated in a glowing bubble, Temporal Chalice gripped tight and dark hair floating out around her. There’s something eerily familiar about her, something Magnus can’t quite figure out. He doesn’t have time to question it, though - Isaak is going to stop them, and he can’t let that happen. So they pierce the bubble, and time grinds to a halt.

They’re in the Davy Lamp, now, or some shadowy approximation. An elderly June - or something that _looks_ like June - is seated before them. They take a seat, wary. 

And not-June starts talking. She offers them a redo. She offers help, a way to undo past harms, to live a better life. She offers Merle happiness, offers Taako absolution. 

“Magnus,” she asks, sweetly, “how would you like your family back?”

She shows him Julia, smiling. She shows him Steven, she shows meeting them both and getting engaged and that first day of the rebellion. Not-June runs through Magnus’s entire life in Raven’s Roost. She ends with the funeral on the cliffs, and rewinds to that last goodbye.

“You could have them back, Magnus. You could save her life, have that happy life together you fought so hard to win,” not-June says beseechingly. “You lost everyone, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. You could have a family again.”

Magnus stands silent for a moment. “I want that very, very badly. I’m guessing you know just how goddamn badly. But here’s the thing. If I go back, we don’t get the relics. Hundreds more people would die. Julia… Julia wouldn’t want that, wouldn’t want me to sacrifice others to save her.” He’s tearing up, but his gaze at not-June is piercing. “And also, you made a mistake. I lost a lot of people, that’s true. I don’t think I lost everyone.”

He steps back, away from the figure before him. “We don’t want to go back. So now would be a good time to give up and let June go.”

Not-June smiles sadly. “Alright. Your loss.”

They flash through years upon years of memories - memories of loss, and death, and failure, the Chalice driving home what they could have done. But then they’re back, they’re in the mineshaft, and June - child June, with her curly hair and brilliant smile - is standing there. 

Magnus needs to ask her, he needs to know- but there’s no time. They have to break the bubble, they have to free the town. All Magnus can do is beg Isaak to get her to safety and then leave again.

They find the purple worm. They shatter the bubble. And then, they watch the town of Refuge age seven years before their eyes. They watch life and death, birthdays and candlenights and funerals. They watch a town wake up.

They’ve freed Refuge. They’ve saved the day. And now they move on to the next adventure. At least before they leave, they have a chance to say some goodbyes. Paloma, Cassidy, Ren - they’re all doing so well. They’re finally moving on in their lives, finally getting a chance to actually live. 

The last goodbye is to June. She’s working in the Davy Lamp, now, so while Taako chats with Ren, Magnus breaks away. He stands there for a minute, just frozen, unsure what to say. Looking at June now, about fifteen with long dark hair tied back with a red bandana, there’s no question about it. He knows, with the certainty of mind and heart agreeing.

But he doesn’t know what to say. 

He’s saved, in a way, by June coming over to talk to him. She’s so happy, so glad everything worked out, so cheerful that they managed to fix it. There’s a layer of bitterness under there, the pain of misplaced blame and guilt, but she seems to be working on it. She gives Magnus a scroll, a hug, and goes back to her job.

It’s clear she doesn’t recognize him, doesn’t know who he is. So for now, he holds his knowledge tight to his chest and goes back to the Bureau like nothing has changed. 

— 

After Story and Song, after the chaos settles down, Magnus makes his way back to Refuge. He goes alone, doesn’t tell the others where he’s going. This is too personal for that. 

So in an echo of years ago, he wanders into Refuge on a bright spring morning and makes his way to the Davy Lamp. As usual, Ren can be found behind the counter, singing a little tune. 

“Oh, Magnus!” she exclaims when she sees him. “Hey, what brings you here?”

“I need to know something… it’s a personal thing. Have you seen June around?” He’s wringing his hands, stomach churning with anxiety. What if he’s wrong?

She nods. “Yeah, she should be out back. This Relic business?”

Magnus sighs. “Sort of. It’s complicated. Thanks, Ren.”

“No problem!” She waves cheerily and Magnus walks out and around the Davy Lamp.

He finds June seated on the back porch, staring off at nothing and fiddling with her long, dark curls. She looks up at him, then silently scoots over to give him a place to sit. 

“Heya, June.” he says, sitting. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Hey, Magnus,” she says, smiling sadly. “Nice to know your name, finally.”

“Yeah, I really am sorry about that. That was not my finest day - either of them, really.”

“You did what you could. You didn’t know what would happen, you’re not immune to that _gods-damned cup_.” She hisses out the last bit.

Magnus flinches a moment, then sighs again. “Same for you, you know that right? You were doing what you had to, what the Chalice wanted to do.”

“Still shitty,” she says, sounding too old for a teenager. 

Magnus huffs out a laugh. “Yeah. Still shitty.”

They sit there in silence for a few comfortable moments, until Magnus has to ask. 

“June, uh… you got any family? Now that Jack…”

“Not really, no.” Her face falls. “Not anymore, not for a while now. Got the news right before the bubble, there was an attack…”

“On a little town called Raven’s Roost, a little, brave town that stood up for what was right.”

June looks at him sharply. “How did you…” 

Magnus had been tearing up, and now he’s openly weeping. “Because my name is Magnus Waxman Burnsides. I lived in Raven’s Roost for four of the best years of my life. Steven Waxman taught me everything I know about carpentry. Julia Waxman taught me everything I knew about right and wrong. She and I led that rebellion, her mostly, I just helped. And after the dust had settled, after we thought it was safe, she and I got married.” 

June is shaking. “You’re… we’re…”

“I knew Steven had a brother out in the desert, we were going to send him a letter, let him know he had new family. But then… then it happened and I didn’t even know Jack’s last name. I never knew how to find you. I’m sorry.”

June’s crying and a little hysterical laugh comes out. “Figures it’d take that stupid fucking cup to pull our family back together.”

Magnus smiles, soft and sad. “Hey, cuz. I know they’re not Waxmans, but I’ve got a lot more extended family to introduce you to.” 

She nods quickly, voice cracking. “I’d -I’d like that. A lot.”

He opens his arms for a hug, and June rushes in.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Wild Montana Skies by John Denver.
> 
>  
> 
> _On the eve of his twenty-first birthday he set out on his own_
> 
> _He was thirty years and running when he found his way back home_
> 
> _Riding a storm across the mountains and an aching in his heart_
> 
> _Said he came to turn the pages and to make a brand new start._


End file.
